TRILOBITE！EYEWITNESS TO EVOLUTION

Book ID/图书代码： 03635004B15854

English Summary/英文概要： ’In Richard Fortey’s capable hands the humble grey trilobite has been transformed into the E.T. of the Lower Palaeozoic -- a remarkable and fascinating book.’ SIMON WINCHESTER Richard Fortey is one of Britain’s leading popular scientists. Life: An Unauthorised Biography, was short-listed for the Rhone Poulenc prize and has been reprinted five times. In all he writes, Fortey displays extraordinary range, delight and descriptive gifts which make complicated scientific facts and concepts not only easy to understand but a delight to absorb. Trilobite! is an unashamedly trilobito-centric view of the world unravelling the history of the exotic, crustacean-like animals which dominated the seas for three hundred million years. These arthropods witnessed continents move, mountain chains elevated and eroded; they survived ice ages and volcanic eruptions, evolving and adapting exquisitely to their environment. They watched through their crystal eyes whilst life evolved. Their own evolution calibrated geological time itself. Structured like a detective story, this is a light, but highly informative account of the wonders of scientific discovery and an engaging, quirky and fascinating introduction to evolution.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 三叶虫是最早出现的节肢动物，鱼类成为优势动物前，远古海洋里到处都是他们的踪迹。在地球经历猛烈变动的时候，超过一万五千种类别的三叶虫，以生物最早演化出的眼睛，冷眼观看远古世界的流变，直到全数灭绝。他们存活了整整三亿年，几乎占据整个古生代，而人类生存至今，也不过是三叶虫时代的百分之零点五而已。现代人类，究竟能从古生物留在岩层中的遗骸—也就是化石里，看到什么？本书作者福提用生动的文笔，带领读者从三叶虫的观点，看大陆漂移、板块挤压等等地球历史。他以科学家的知识说故事，向读者诉说：生物在经历这些巨变时，究竟如何演化适应。读者可以从三叶虫结晶的眼睛，看到许多生命的演化的奥妙。在福提的带领下，我们也将一同感受，科学家全心投注于研究的充沛热情。福提以幽默的笔触，观察省死科学研究的种种，但也不忘向同样满怀热情的前辈科学家致敬。这一趟由大师导游的时间之旅，充满洋溢才情与精彩洞见，绝对让你不虚此行！

Awards/获奖情况："In Richard Fortey’s capable hands the humble gray trilobite has been transformed into the E.T. of the Lower Palaeozoic - a lovable and highly instructive animal, amply deserving of the enthusiasm and affection with which it is memorialized in this remarkable and fascinating book."---Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman

"This is the way science should be written: so engagingly that it makes you forget that you’re actually learning something (actually, you’re learning a lot), and carrying you swiftly from page to page so that before you know it, you’ve let the kettle boil over and you’re at the end, where the ’suggested reading’ list shows you that Fortey has read practically everything about trilobites so that he could condense it here for you, and make you feel that if it’s not too late, you’d better call him up at the National History Museum and see if he needs an assistant in the trilobite section. If I had five thousand words I couldn’t do Trilobite! justice. There’s just no way to condense Fortey’s glittering book so filled with insight, science, history, charm and wit. The book speaks brilliantly for itself. You must read it!"---Richard Ellis, author of Deep Atlantic and Encyclopedia of the Sea

Though common, there is nothing prosaic about the three-lobed fossil called the trilobite, especially as Fortey waxes fairly poetic on its 300-million-year run in the evolutionary show. He immediately locks in attention with his personal perambulation along a Cornwall cliff, reflecting on the Thomas Hardy character who teetered face-to-face with death there, and with a trilobite. This encounter initiates Fortey’s exuberant explorations into what trilobites reveal. With their calcite lenses, they demonstrate that evolution found more than one way to produce an eye; with their distribution around the world, they rewind the tape of continental drift to where land masses resided eons ago; and with their speciation they furnish paleontologists grist for theories about how evolution works. But most of all, their study reveals the human side of science. Fortey populates his story with many characters, none more poignant than a pioneer in the notion of "punctuated equilibrium," a trilobite researcher named Rudolf Kaufmann whose career was ruined and life taken by the Nazis. Throughout, the author’s pure enthusiasm for trilobites shines and inescapably fascinates the reader.---Gilbert Taylor, From Booklist

About the Author/作者介绍： Richard Fortey is senior palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum. His previous books include the critically acclaimed LIFE: AN UNAUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY and the prize-winning THE HIDDEN LANDSCAPE. He lives in London.
福提（RICHARD FORTEY）伦敦自然历史博物馆的资深古生物学家，英国皇家学院院士。他在英国引领推广普及科学，执笔撰写的科普著作屡获好评，包括：《化石：通往过去的钥匙》：《隐藏的地貌》，获得一九九三年自然世界图书奖；以及《生命：一部独断的传记》，入围一九九八年科普书隆普阑克奖决选名单

Format:照片

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：SOLD

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)

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